JOYRIDERS wreaked havoc on a Birmingham street when they made off in a pair of buses.

Police are scouring CCTV footage in a bid to trace the thieves, who broke into the Zaks Coaches storage unit at an industrial estate in Great Barr in the early hours of Sunday morning to steal the single-deckers.

The louts were seen flattening the gates with one bus and then speeding down Shady Lane by nearby residents, who had been woken up by the noise.

The two buses were later discovered abandoned nearby.

Local resident Jordan Preece said: “I woke up to the sound of a horrendous screeching. My first instinct was to check on my brother and his family in the room next door as I couldn’t understand what was happening. When I saw they were fine I checked out of the bedroom window to see a bus violently swerving down Shady Lane, knocking over anything in its path.

“I noticed the hazard lights were on so assumed the bus was having mechanical difficulties.”

Another neighbour, who did not wish to be named, added: “I was fast asleep when there was a huge crash of metal on metal.

“I looked out of the window and saw a single decker bus swerving onto the road.

“It’s mad. How can you steal a coach and get away with it?” he said.

A West Midlands Police spokesman said: “We can confirm that officers are investigating the theft of two single deck buses from a storage compound in Great Barr. At 3.41am on Sunday, police were alerted via the 999 service to reports that a bus had been stolen and was being driven down Shady Lane.

“When officers arrived, they found the gate to the compound on the floor and two buses abandoned in nearby Chapel Lane.